The present invention relates to a method for sculpting three-dimensional crystalline oxide nanostructures with atomic level precision.
Progress in nanoscience has brought about advancements in the manipulation and control of matter at the nanometer and ultimately atomic level. Generally, a number of approaches for patterning have emerged, including parallel methods such as classical nanofabrication and serial methods based on electron beams or scanning probes. For example, the atomic manipulation of xenon atoms through Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) by D. M. Eigler and E. K. Schweizer1 in 1990 was a seminal achievement in nanotechnology and nanoscience, opening a new pathway for fabrication of atomic structures including quantum corrals,2 standing electron waves,3 atomic switches,4 molecular cascades5 for atomic based computing, and quantum holographic devices.6 However, STM and Non-Contact Atomic Force Microscopy (NC-AFM) approaches for nano-manipulation7,8 are necessarily limited to surface atomic structures. The combination of surface fabrication and slow throughput are severely limiting and this approach has largely been used for experimental devices and fundamental studies.
An alternative paradigm for patterning matter is offered by electron beams. Electron-beam lithography in Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) geometry9 is known to produce three dimensional structures at the nanometer scale. Due to the finite interaction volume for lower-energy electron beams, patterning at the atomic scale is not feasible and the typical minimal feature size is limited to tens of nanometers. In view of this shortcoming, there is interest in nanofabrication using highly energetic scanning transmission electron microscope beams. For example, it is known that scanning transmission electron microscope beams can induce hole formation in specimens via knock-on damage.10 This effect can be used to form nanoscale patterns in thin amorphous films as well as single-layer graphene and few-layer graphene. Recently, atomic rearrangements in amorphous materials have been reported.11 However, the lack of appropriate material systems and direct beam control on known scanning transmission electron microscope platforms have precluded practical implementations of bulk nanofabrication.